It has been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his legend expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his preferred approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, while filming the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his anger regarding how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial aspects of acting, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or mental instability. But of course, in the life of an actor, it must principally be about the inner transformation.”
A World of Imitators
Frankly, it appears as if the actor has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered among the best actors to ever work, and your process includes striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we exist in an environment populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they put into their roles. At the shallow end of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I recall [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his work.
An Admirable But Uphill Fight
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing more films. Surely we could all support that idea.
